Staff reports | U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent who ran a wildly-popular grassroots campaign for the Democratic nomination for president this year, gives a shout-out to South Carolina progressives in his new book, Our Revolution.
In October 2013, Sanders, who had never been to the South, conducted an exploratory tour with visits to Mississippi, South Carolina and Georgia. He gave a keynote speech to the S.C. Progressive Network at its annual meeting at the culturally- and historically-important Penn Center on St. Helena Island.
Sanders notes in the book: “In South Carolina and other conservative states, it is very different [from being a progressive elsewhere]. In South Carolina, there are two Republican senators, a Republican governor, and a very Republican state legislature. In fact, in 2014, because of a resignation, two U.S. Senate seats in the state were up for election. Unbelievably, the Democrats were unable to put up one serious candidate. To be a progressive in South Carolina and other conservative states means to be in the minority, sometimes a weak minority. It takes a lot of courage to maintain progressive views in that kind of political climate, and I applaud those who do.”
Brett Bursey, the longtime director of the Progressive Network, was appreciative of the mention in the new book.
“We were on the Bernie train before there was even a caboose,” he joked.
Bursey and others plan to be in Charleston Monday to rev up progressives to organize for the future. The meeting will be 7 p.m. at the International Longshoremen’s Association Hall on Morrison Drive. A similar effort recently in Columbia spawned more than 125 people – five times the normal attendance, Bursey said.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!